Loose leaf binder



April l0, 1934. c. D. TRussELL LOOSE LEAF' BINDER Filed Nov. 25, 1930 Patented Apr. 10, 1934 UNITED STATES LOOSE LEAF BINDER Clarence D. Trussell, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assignor to Trusscll Manufacturing Company, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 26, 1930, Serial No. t@8,268

15 Claims.

This invention relates to loose-leaf binders of the type having half rings or prongs which are carried on plates having edge contact and pressed resiliently together so that the spring pressure 'holds the binding devices :In either the open or closed position. Such binders are commonly constructed with a spring baci: plate having hooked side flanges engaging the outer edges of the prong* carrying plates to press them together and the prongs or hooks constitute segments of rings so that when closed together the rings coniine the loose sheets and when separated or opened the sheets may be removed or replaced.

With such binders it is common to provide one or more openers for forcing the prong plates upwardly to thereby open the rings. Such openers are applied at one or both ends of the binder and are advantageously constructed as a lever having an operating arm which when pressed down causes the inner end or nose forming the short arm of the lever to pry upwardly against one or both of the prong plates near their junction, the reaction of the lever being transmitted to the curved spring back plate, usually at or near the middle thereof. The present invention is directed in part to the improved construction of such openers. i

The invention also provides other features of improvement, the nature of which will be made apparent as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure l is a transverse section of the binder on the line 1-1 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal mid-section of one end portion thereof.

Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2 partly broken away.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section similar to Fig. l but on a different transverse plane, indicated by line 4-4 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an under-side View or inverted plan partly broken away of a portion of the binder shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 6 is an under-side plan of the entire length of abinder having three rings or pairs of prongs.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the opener show ing its parts separated in full lines and showing in dotted lines the lower part united to the upper.

Fig. 8 is a transverse section of the back plate and opener separated, and without other parts.

In external construction the binder here illustrated resembles those contained in certain of my prior patents, as, for example, No. 1,468,845

(Cl. 12B-24) and No. 1,468,846, dated September 25, 1923; and No. 1,529,454, dated March 10, 1925.

Generally speaking, binders of this type oomprise two or more pairs of half rings 01 prongs A, prong carrier plates B, B, to which they are attached, a spring plate C having hooked edges compressing the outer edges of the plates B, B, and preferably also a top plate or cover-plate D; the latter is desirable chieiiy for concealing the working parts and providing a trim appearance. The prong plates B, B meet with a rocking edge contact at their inner edges and have a toggle action by reason of the inward Stre applied to their outer edges. The construction is such that when the plates are in the saine plane, which constitutes their neutral position, the prongs are partly separated; as the prongs come together lthe plates occupy a lower position at their inner edges so that the spring pressure tends to force these edges downward and thereby to force the prongs together and hold therings closed; and as the prongs are opened the plates swing past the neutral position to an upper position such that the pressure tends to force them to the limit of their movement and thereby to hold the prongs separat-ed for the insertion or removal of sheets. The edge Contact between the plates referred to may be an actual contact of their edges or an essentially like effect may be provided by having contact points at intervals so as to form a rocking or knife-edge engagement. These rocking points of contact may be formed on the prongs or half rings or may be provided by engaging projections formed on the respective piates. The present invention is not concerned with the particular construction for providing a rocking contact between these plates.

In the present construction the opener E is of the lever type, having a rocking fulcrum and formed with a long arm a above the top plate D, and preferably extending to and beyond the end of the binder, where it is provided with a broadened portion or thumb piece b. The lever is formed with a short arm or toe c adapted to project under the inner edge portion of one or both of Aplates B, B, so that as the long arm is pressed down this short arm will pry up the inner edges of the plates and force them to their uppermost position, thereby opening the binder. It is desirable to make the opener of a single sheet or plate of metal bent into U-orm in crosssection, an example of which is shown in my said Patent No. 1,468,846. In such case the lever is formed with two toe portions c, c, coming under the edges of the respective plates B, B. It is `stress tending to distort it.

desirable also to form the lever with projections d, which in its inactive position as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, strike against the underside of the top plate and thereby limit the tilting of the lever.

Heretofore, with such lever type openers, the fulcruming of the lever has been accomplished by causing it to bear downwardly against the middie portion of the spring back plate C. This has two disadvantages, namely, that the pressure applied to the lever by reacting downwardly against the spring plate which is usually of light. thin metal) tends to indent or distort this plate; and also this downward pressure against the middle of the plate acts to iex the plate and thereby exerts a stress, drawing its outer hooked edges inwardly against the outer edges of the plates B, B, which force resists the effort of the lever to pry upwardly the plates, a motion which necessarily forces apart the hooked edges of the spring plate. Thus, to an extent, the prying action of the lever generates a resistance to the result sought. To avoid this disadvantage the present invention provides the lifter or lever E with bearing portions engaging the opposite side edge portions of the back plate so as to relieve the middle portion of the back plate of strain and avoid any This result is best accomplished by providing the lever with a transverse bridge piece E shown separately in Fig. .7. This bridge piece extends across the binder, being suniciently spaced from the spring back plate to avoid any bearing thereagainst except at its outer ends e, e which enter within the hooked edges of the back plate and bear directly downward against the back plate within such hooked portions. It results from this construction that the reaction of the lever when prying up the plate B, B is transmitted outwardly to both sides and is exerted against the back plate where the ends e, e bear upon it. Thus, the reaction of the lever, instead of tending to draw the hooked edges of the spring plate inwardly so as to resist the opening movement, has no such tendency but the bridge bears in a simple downward direction against the outer edge portions of the spring plate. The preferred construction of the levei` for accomplishing this result is that shown best in Figs. 7 and 8. The lever E., being of U- form in cross-section, has its parallel portions notched at f and the cross-piece or bridge E' is forced up into these notches. This bridge is itself notched at y for a width suilcient to admit the doubled or U-portions of the lever. To in sure a tight, rm connection between the two without the necessity for any soldering or other union, the notch g is made slightly narrower than the normal spacing of the two walls of the U-shaped body of the lever so that these portions require to be forced together to enter them into the notch g. 'Ihe lever .E and bridge E enter together to the extent indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 7, this being permitted partly by the depths of the notches f and partly by the depth of the notch g.

When the cover plate D is used the long arm a of the opener overlies the cover-plate and its vfulcrurn extends down through a slot i in the in dotted lines in Fig. 7; the cover-plate and opener are then applied to the back-plate, with the short arms or toe portions c projecting under the prong plates B, B, as shown in Fig. 2. The construction of the opener in two portions, E and E', is necessary for thus assembling it with relation to the cover-plate, since the arm a overlies the cover-plate while the bridge E' is beneath the cover-plate.

For conveniently introducing the lever into position, it is desirable to make the spring back plate with a notch h, as shown in Fig. 3. .slightly removed from the normal position of the bridge piece E when in place; so that the lever may be positioned by bringing its bridge piece into the transverse plane of the notch It, hooking its opposite end e under the hooked edge of the spring plate, then dropping its other end c through the notch h, and then sliding the lever to the position shown in Fig. 3.

The lever is held in position laterally partly by the engagement oi the bridge E with the spring plate and partly by its arm a passing outwardly through the slot i in the top plate, as shown in Fig. l. This slot i is long enough to permit the complete movement of the lever. As the top plate is of thin metal, its edge bearing against the sides of the lever arm d may not in all cases afford a suiiiciently secure engagement; and to supplement this it is desirable to provide an additional plate F which may be oi the shape shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and which is slid in endwise, its side edges entering into the hooked edge portions of the spring plate C but with suflicient looseness to not interfere with the necessary spring movement of this plate. The plate F is pushed inwardly until its inner ends come against'the outer face of the bridge piece E' at or near its end portions e, e; and it is held in this position by the subsequent application of the usual end plate G, which may be fastened to the other members in any customary manner.

Thus the plate F, by bearing against the bridge piece E holds the lever E in place, and by reason of the ample spread of the bridge piece serves as an efficient guide to keep the lever arm a in its mid-position independently of its bearing against the edges of the slot i.

A further feature of the invention makes provision for varying the stiffness of the spring back plate at different points so as to improve the operation of the device in opening and closing the rings.

For uniform operation, some binders provide opening means at opposite ends of the book, but this, although it somewhat equalizes the opera-- tion, requires the use ci two hands, which often is inconvenient. With an opener at only one end, the entire opening stress upon the back plate comes adjacent the end ring nearest that end, and the tendency is to cause themetallic elements to spring or yield so that upon operating the opener the adjacent ring tends to open in advance of the others. To equalize the Istress from end to end, it is desirable to impart considerable additional stiffness or resilience to the spring back plate adjacent the opener. It is also desirable to impart a diminishing resistance toward the opposite ends in such manner to impart a secondary stress to the prong plates and prongs at the farther end. In the case of a three-ring binder, the middle ring or pair of prongs receives the effect of the spring stress for a considerable distance toward both ends, and there is as a rule no desirability in reinforcing the spring stress. To accomplish these objects, I

`corrugate the spring plate at m and n, 6.

The corrugations at m are coincident with or adjacent to the end ring or pair of prongs nearest the opener; or may be located at any point between these prongs and the bridge piece E of the opener. The corrugations n are located be tween the opposite end ring A' and the middle ring A" (in the case of a three-ring binder) but nearer the end ring, as shown in Fig. 6, so as to impart to that end ring a degree of resilient stress considerably less than that imparted to the ring at the opposite end adjacent the opener but considerably greater than the stress imparted to the middle ring A. The same result may be accomplished in other ways as by making the corrugations m either greater in number or deep er than the corrugations n. The result of thus varying the stress of the spring plate at different points along its length is to equalize the opening effect of the opener and tend toward a more ideal uniformity of spring stress as applied to the respective rings.

While the precise construction shown and described is the preferable one, yet it is susceptible to variation or modification according to circumstances, such for example as the size and diameter of the rings, the number of rings in the book and the stiffness required for any given type of book, all of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A binder comprising prong plates, a flanged back-plate and a cover plate, with an opener comprising a longitudinally-extended lever portion passing through a slot in the cover plate, and a separate transverse bridge portion attached to said lever portion beneath the cover plate and located in an upright transverse plane with its ends bearing upon the side fianges of the backplate, to transmit the opening reaction downward to such flanges.

2. In a binder an opener comprising a lever and a transverse bridge piece having mutual slotted engagement with each other.

3. In a binder an opener comprising a lever portion formed of sheet-metal bent into U-shape in cross-section and a transverse bridge piece, these parts having reciprocally engaging slotted portions.

4. In a binder an opener comprising a lever portion formed of sheet-metal bent into U-shape in cross-section and a transverse bridge piece, these parts having interritting portions united under resilient stress.

5. In a binder an opener comprising a lever portion formed of sheet-metal bent into U-shape in cross-section and a transverse bridge piece, the latter having a recess entered by the former and of less width than the U-shaped portion whereby the latter when forced into the recess engages it resiliently.

6. A binder comprising prong plates having rocking engagement, a spring back plate with hook anges engaging the outer edges of said plates to press them together, and an opener consisting of a longitudinal lever and a transverse bearing portion with its ends entering the opposite hook anges to bear down thereon, the back plate having a notch through which to enter the bearing portionY on one side of the opener, said notch being out of line with the Working portion of such bearing portion.

7. A binder comprising prong plates having rocking engagement, a spring back plate with hook ilanges engaging the outer edges of said plates to press them together, and an opener consisting of a longitudinal lever and a transverse bearing portion with its ends entering the opposite hook ilanges to bear down thereon, and a plate tted within one end of the binder, such plate having guide portions engaging the lateral bearing portions on the opener.

8. A binder according to claim 7, having an end cap engaging the last-named plate to hold itin abutment with the lateral bearing portions of the opener.

9. A loose-leaf binder comprising prong-plates having rocking engagement, a spring back plate engaging the outer edges of the prong plates to press them together, and an opener having a rocking bearing against the opposite edges of the back-plate, the back-plate being stiffened adjacent the prongs nearest said opener to resist the reacting thrust of the latter.

10. A loose-leaf binder comprising prongplates having rocking engagement, a spring back plate engaging the outer edges of the prong plates to press them together, and an opener having a rocking bearing against the opposite edges of the back-plate, the back-plate being stifened by transverse corrugations adjacent the prongs nearest said opener.

l1. A loose-leaf binder comprising prongplates having rocking engagement, a spring back plate engaging the outer edges of the prong plates to press them together, and an opener having a rocking bearing against the opposite edges of the back-plate and engaging the prong plates adjacent one pair of prongs, the back-plate being stiiened transversely at different portions of its length to resist the reaction of the opener.

12. A binder comprising prong plates having rocking engagement, a spring back-plate engaging the outer edges of the prong plates to press them together, and an opener having a rocking bearing against the opposite edges of the backplate, the back-plate being stiffened by` transverse corrugations adjacent the prongs nearest the opener and stiffened to a lesser degree in the neighborhood of the prongs remote from the opener.

13. A binder comprising prong plates having rocking engagement, a spring back-plate engaging the outer edges of the prong plates to press them together, and an opener having a rocking bearing against the opposite edges of the backplate, the binder having at least two pairs of prongs, the opener being adjacent the pair at one end, and the backplate being transversely stiiened adjacent said pair of prongs, and also stiffened to an effectively less extent by transverse corrugations adjacent a pair of prongs remote from the opener.

14. A binder comprising prong plates having rocking engagement, a spring back-plate engaging the outer edges of the prong plates to press 3 them together, and an opener having a rocking bearing against the opposite edges of the backplate, the binder having at least three pairs of prongs, the opener being adjacent the pair at one end, and the back-plate being stiiened by transverse corrugations adjacent said pair of prongs and also transversely stiiened by similar transverse corrugations between the remote pair of prongs and the pair of prongs nearest to the latter.

l5. A binder according to claim 7, such plate engaging the hook flanges of the spring plate and abutting against the ends of the bearing portion whereby to guide the opener.

CLARENCE D. TRUSSELL. 

